J.D. Vance Returns Empty-Handed After Diplomatic Failures Abroad

J.D. Vance returned from his two missions abroad empty-handed, following the failed talks on the war in Iran in Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 12, and the resounding defeat of outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the legislative elections in Hungary on the same day.

These two successive failures constitute “major setbacks for the vice president, widely seen as the presumptive heir to Trump, who was sent last week to all corners of the world to carry out missions where the chances of success were slim,” analyzes the Financial Times.

It’s almost as if the American vice president “had drunk the poisoned chalice to the dregs,” especially since J.D. Vance, a convert to Catholicism, returned to Washington just in time “to witness the showdown between the White House tenant and Pope Leon,” mocks the British daily.

The Champion of Lost Causes

These failures are not without effect on his popularity among Americans, notes the headline, pointing out that “the vice president’s rating has indeed dropped at the same time as Trump’s. The latest average of polls, calculated by the aggregator RealClearPolitics, shows that just under 41% of Americans currently have a favorable opinion.”